Photos by Francisco Barrios

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Brother shoots brother in McNeal Sunday
An argument left one brother dead in McNeal and another charged with his murder.

Local Candidate Filings
The following are people who have filed initial paperwork with the Cochise County Elections Office so that they can run for office later this year. To be listed in this list, they must have filed a candidate information sheet and either a $500 threshold exemption statement, meaning they won’t spend more than $500 on their campaign, or a statement of organization, which means they plan to spend more than $500 on their campaign and have formed a campaign organization. To officially become a candidate, they must file petitions with the County Elections Office by June 4. The Dispatch plans to run a list periodically  of people who have pulled packets to run.

Douglas man found unconscious, severely beaten
A 30-year-old Douglas man was found severely beaten and unconscious Sunday morning at the Sunspots mobile home park.

Despite high gas prices, visitors are still coming to Cochise County
SIERRA VISTA — High gas prices aren’t stopping tourists from coming to Cochise County. At least for now, said local tourism officials.

U.S Forest Service
U.S. Forest Service, Douglas District Fire Staff would like to encourage the public who camp or recreate in the Chiricahua, Dragoon and Peloncillo Mountain public lands to exercise caution due to the dry conditions that contribute to the high fire danger.

Auction this Sunday
Serge Garcia, left, and Gary Clark of DARC ready for the annual Mother’s Day Cake Auction, scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, May 11, at the Gadsden Hotel. The annual fundraiser will feature more than 2500 cakes and other dessert items along with three Gaylord Perry autographed baseballs and three autographed Brooks Robinson baseball bats to bid on. This is the 45th year of the auction.

Crude, Fuel prices ascend to new record highs
Across the state and country, gasoline prices continue to ascend for the third consecutive month. While Arizonans continue to pay the second lowest fuel price in the country, the current statewide average increased by over two cents since last week to $3.471 per gallon. Tucson drivers have reclaimed the state’s lowest fuel price at $3.409 per gallon, while Flagstaff drivers continue to pay the most to fill their tanks at $3.577 per gallon. Nationwide, the current average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.645 per gallon, also an increase of over two cents from last week.

Police Reports
April 29, 2008

Prison complex still on lockdown day after fights
SIERRA VISTA — The Mojave Unit at the state prison facility in Douglas remained locked down Thursday afternoon.

Hand in ranching
MCNEAL — Starlene Moore was not at all pleased that she would be fighting a 30 mph wind.

Community News
Call for volunteers

Douglas EMT Tanya Duarte receives Star of Life Award
The role of an Emergency Medical Technician can often go unnoticed in comparison to the high profile role of a fire fighter or a police officer.

Benefit dance for Douglas Food Bank on May 18
The lines are getting longer, but the food supplies are getting shorter.

Public Service
WANTED

And going up...
According to the Cochise College Center for Economic Research’s latest biweekly survey of gas prices, conducted during the week of May 5, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Cochise County increased to $3.50 from $3.43 over the two-week period.

Nurse practitioners may be allowed to perform abortions in state
PHOENIX — A panel of the state Board of Nursing is recommending that nurse practitioners be allowed to perform first-trimester abortions in Arizona.

May is Asthma awareness month
Chances are you know someone with asthma. Asthma impacts more than 15 percent of Cochise County residents.

Former lawmakers want voters to revamp redistricting
 PHOENIX — Two former lawmakers scrapped plans Tuesday to ask voters to revamp how the state’s congressional and legislative districts are crafted.

Group seeks tax increase for new roads, mass transit
PHOENIX — Business and community groups took the first steps Tuesday to convincing Arizonans to raise the taxes on virtually everything they buy to build new roads, widen and repair existing ones and fund a series of mass transit projects including a rail line from Tucson to Phoenix and perhaps beyond.

State looks at expanding jobs that teens can doBy Howard Fischer
 PHOENIX — State lawmakers are weighing whether to let teens perform jobs now considered too hazardous for them by state law as one answer to the complaints by some businesses of a labor shortage.

You can have asthma and breathe right
COCHISE COUNTY – Many of us in Cochise County complain about our “allergies acting up” during this windy, dry time of year.

Napolitano begins defense of transportation tax proposal
PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano is defending plans to hike the state sales tax to among the highest in the nation to fund transit improvements rather than put the burden on those who will most directly benefit.

Dr. William C. Harris to speak at 43rd commencement; event to be broadcast online
Dr. William C. Harris, president and CEO of Science Foundation Arizona (SFA), will address the 2008 graduating class of Cochise College during commencement ceremonies Friday, May 16 at the Douglas Campus.

Student says teacher tossed Mexican flag in trash at Minico High School
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.

Medicare health benefits counseling
Many seniors need assistance in understanding the choices available in Medicare health benefits and other health insurance options.

DARC event set for Sunday
Raul Montano, who shares the award with his family, became the youngest dedicatee for the DARC Mother’s Day Cake Auction, but it seems he has working with the organization for years.

Memorial Day Candlelight Ceremony May 26 in SV
Memorial Day is a time to remember and honor those who have paid the supreme sacrifice while serving our nation. 

Early Learning Center Briefs
Next week on Wednesday, 14th we have late start for the Kinders.

Mother's Day Cake Auction honors Raul Montano, entire family
The Montano family have given to this community for years, and are being honored by DARC. Pictured, from left is Father Raul, and sons and Daughters Rosa Sanchez., Thelma Yanez, Raymond, Olga Salazar, Raul, Nancy McCracken and Jimmy.

Douglas girl, 11, two months pregnant
The Daily Dispatch

Payday loan initiative may falter, division among supporters
 PHOENIX — An initiative drive to put the payday loan industry out of business in Arizona may falter because of a split among supporters.

Prison fight
Six inmates were injured Wednesday at the Douglas Prison Complex north of Douglas. Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux said the injuries resulted from a small fight at the Mojave Unit shortly before 10 a.m.  As of 3:30 p.m. the unit was still under lock down The unit is a 920-bed medium security facility. Lamoreaux said the incident is still under investigation.

Building green focus of county work session at the Supervisors meeting
BISBEE — Exurbanization: A large scale settlement by urban people in non-metropolitan areas beyond typical suburban commuting distances.

Disturbance leads to injury at prison
A disturbance at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Douglas has led to multiple injuries.

American Community Survey looks at Cochise County
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released results from its 2006 American Community Survey. This was the second year Cochise County was included in the survey, which provides annual updates to the census data collected every 10 years. Prior to 2005, only communities with a population of 250,000 or more were included. In 2005, this was changed to include populations of 65,000 or more.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt comes to County
On June 8th through June 22nd, 2008, then panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, “the Names Project” will be on display for the first time in Cochise County, specifically Bisbee, Arizona.  Usually found in larger cities with larger setting, the quilt will be displayed in eight “Old World Charm” buildings in Historic Bisbee creating an educational walk along with speakers from Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, Arizona Department of Health Services/HIV Prevention, Pima County Health Department and the University of Arizona, to mention a few.

Tastes of the Santa Cruz Valley – Part I
The Santa Cruz  Valley (from Marana to Nogales) is one of the longest continually cultivated regions in the United States, with an agricultural history extending back more than 4,000 years.  This agricultural heritage can still be experienced today through local foods produced throughout the Santa Cruz Valley.

Modern, jazz, classical and more ...
Cochise County Youth Orchestra’s spring concert
The young musicians of the Cochise County Youth Orchestra will present their spring concert at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Kino Hall, next to St. Andrew’s Church, 800 Taylor Drive. Admission is free and the public is encouraged to come out and see firsthand the incredible talent of the orchestra members.

Upcoming Stuff
Bird Walk

Bisbee Gem & Mineral show on May 24, 25
BISBEE, ARIZ.  Once known as “Queen of the Copper Camps”, the City of Bisbee and the Queen Mine Tour will be hosting the annual Bisbee Gem & Mineral Show, May 24th   &  25th, 2008.  Held at the historic Queen Mine, the show promises an array of exquisite, quality mineral specimens.  A mere hundred paces from Historic Downtown Bisbee, the show hours are 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Saturday & Sunday.

West African style dance in Bisbee on May 17th
Jade Beall, resident instructor in Tucson, comes to Bisbee on Saturday, May 17th to teach a traditional dance from Guinea, West Africa. Her style is infused with modern choreography, providing a safe and unintimidating atmosphere while accommpanied by live drummers. Jade has been teaching for six years.

St. David artist gave life's work to promote learning
Hundreds of art pieces to be displayed at the Cochise College Benson Center this fall will be sold to raise funds for college scholarships.

Chamber players perform Oct. 26
Full of old-world grace, charm and, occasionally, fury, the Daystar Chamber Players present a face-to-face, quadraphonic experience of two violins, a viola and a cello at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 at the Sierra Vista Community United Church of Christ. The concert is brought to Sierra Vista by Cochise College Cultural Events.

Call to Artists . . .
Interested artists are invited to submit original artwork, completed within the last two years, for the 2008 La Frontera Tucson International Mariachi Conference poster. The conference is scheduled for April 21-26, 2008.

Cochise College Events
Saturday, October 20

Mesquite milling, pancake breakfast Sat.
Bisbee Farmers Market

Mmmm is for mother
Unlike most of our holidays — Thanksgiving, for example, which demands a turkey dinner — Mother’s Day can be interpreted in many different ways. You can, for example, take Mom out for a fancy brunch or dinner, or give her a “spa day.” You can give her baskets of flowers or a new nightgown or — as the TV ads keep suggesting — a diamond necklace.

Nothing fishy here-Embrace your inner fish
Like "tree-huggers," we fish-huggers are concerned about the environment, specifically the impact of factory trawlers, bottom draggers, the problem of bycatch (e.g., dolphins caught in tuna nets) and industrialized aquaculture. We worry about the byproducts of bad fisheries management or farming, including mercury, antibiotics and colorants in fish. We want to save the fish so we can ... eat them. A little self-interest can, environmentally speaking, be a good thing.

Take rain checks when the shelves run dry
I recently shopped at my drugstore and was disappointed that the best bargains were out of stock. I had waited until the last day of the sale week, and other clever shoppers had cleared out the bargains.

Ministers find online world time consuming
For millions of users, the Internet has turned into a devil’s den packed with urban legends, pop-up porn, Nigerian get-rich schemes and tidal waves of spam-pushing medical products that make sailors blush.

Church records offer rare look inside polygamist families
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Hand-scrawled records taken from a polygamist sect are helping untangle the spider-web network of family relationships at the Yearning For Zion ranch, where some husbands had more than a dozen wives.

Entertainment versus religious messages
The idea for the movie began with a vision of three fake pirates falling from the sky into the ocean, transported in a magical rowboat back to the 17th century.

Religion In The News
Students now required to observe moment of silence in Illinois

Cochise College Events
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Bookmobile Schedule
Thursday, May 8

Don’t count on gas tax holiday to lower prices
NEW YORK (AP) — Sure, a gas-tax holiday seems like a good idea, at first. According to the presidential candidates touting it, it would yield cheaper gas.

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